Sisters Leah and Stephanie Melnik teamed up to make granola bars with natural ingredients.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Sisters Leah and Stephanie Melnik teamed up to make granola bars...

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Leah Melnik mixes the granola ingredients together by hand Thursday February 7, 2013. Sisters Leah and Stephanie Melnik make unique granola bars in a San Francisco, Calif. kitchen that combine natural ingredients and are good tasting.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Leah Melnik mixes the granola ingredients together by hand Thursday...

Image 5 of 7

Leah Melnik rolls out the finished Awesome granola bars which are cooled and then cut. Sisters Leah and Stephanie Melnik make unique granola bars in a San Francisco, Calif. kitchen that combine natural ingredients and are good tasting.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Leah Melnik rolls out the finished Awesome granola bars which are...

Image 6 of 7

Leah (left) and Stephanie Melnik work on a batch of their Awesome granola bars Thursday February 7, 2013. Sisters Leah and Stephanie Melnik make unique granola bars in a San Francisco, Calif. kitchen that combine natural ingredients and are good tasting.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Leah (left) and Stephanie Melnik work on a batch of their Awesome...

Image 7 of 7

Stephanie (left) and Leah Melnik just finished another batch of their Awesome granola bars Thursday February 7, 2013. Sisters Leah and Stephanie Melnik make unique granola bars in a San Francisco, Calif. kitchen that combine natural ingredients and are good tasting.

It's hard not to get quizzical stares or questions from strangers while wearing a red sweatshirt that loudly proclaims, "You can't fake awesome."

But Leah and Stephanie Melnik don't mind. It's all part of boosting their startup San Francisco energy bar company, Awesome Bars.

The Melniks started making and selling granola bars on a small scale in 2010 to help finance a car for Leah's personal chef business. Their sister act has grown into Awesome Bars, whose products are sold online and in 130 Bay Area cafés and natural food stores.

Leah, 32, runs the kitchen, and Stephanie, 25, handles sales. Their bars are found in San Francisco, North Bay and East Bay stores - places like Bean There in the Mission District - and sell for about $3 each. Their startup employs five people, who produce 2,500 bars a week in a rented San Francisco industrial kitchen. They package and deliver the products themselves.

Leah says that starting their business in their adopted hometown was a crucial decision.

"There's a strong love of food here," Leah said. "Chefs are like celebrities in this city. I don't know if it would have worked elsewhere."

Crowded field

The food bar industry is booming, with bars making up a $5.7 billion U.S. retail market, according to consumer market research company Packaged Facts. Industry leaders include Kellogg, PowerBars maker Nestlé, Nature Valley granola bar maker General Mills and Emeryville's Clif Bars, reports the trade periodical Convenience Store Petroleum.

Lu Ann Williams, head of research at Innova Market Insights, tracks 500 bars hitting the U.S. market annually and said Awesome Bars fit in with today's trends of local production and natural ingredients.

"There has never been a better time for products from small producers," Williams said. "If I were Awesome Bars, I'd try to add another point of differentiation. Why not cut them into bite-sized pieces and use some emerging ingredients like some of the newer grains?"

The sisters said their productivity has increased exponentially since they began creating their product - with flavors like salty peanut, coconut pecan, blueberry, cherry almond and cranberry trail mix. Since starting just about a year ago, the sisters say they have sold 38,000 bars.

The Melniks decided to turn what was a side project into a full-time venture after receiving 65 orders for holiday gift boxes from an e-mail blast they sent out in December 2011. Stephanie got more involved after being laid off from her sales job. With startup funding primarily from their father, they quickly recruited Leah's former Mel's Drive-In co-workers, Autumn Valjien and Annie Almanza.

Good core values

Valjien cites good core values as one of the reasons the company began - and thrived - during the economic recession. The sisters refused to put preservatives in the bars to make them last longer than their four-week shelf life, and they package the bars in compostable wrapping, she said.

"People are also really impressed that it's four ladies putting it together," Almanza said. "They often think we're the sales representatives because they're used to seeing a man in a suit."

Leah said being a female business owner in the Bay Area is a positive - unlike other regions in the country.

Persistence also paid off. "From our standpoint, part of our success is the fact that we refused to fail," Leah said. "We weren't making much money working hard for someone else, so you will work hard to create another job."

Leah began making bars for herself in 2008 after being dissatisfied with the bars she consumed while training for the San Francisco Marathon. She later began selling them at the Underground Market and online.

Slow food

She'd been an advocate for the slow food movement since arriving in San Francisco from New Jersey in 2005, and lost 40 pounds after cutting out processed food from her diet.

"I became such a believer in clean, fresh food," Leah said. "I'm not a crazy health nut, but I did think there was a need for better food in the market. At the same time, as a waitress I was always busy, so I wanted food I could eat fast."

While they have created different flavors of their bars, they've kept the original recipe simple, they say. The bars are high in fiber and nut protein, and they like having the antioxidants from dark chocolate.

On their wrappers, after oats, agave nectar, and pecans, they list "love" as the final ingredient. "Other companies outsource their manufacturing, but we want to make sure people are getting a good, fresh product," Leah said. "As we look to grow as a company, we want to hold off on hiring until we have the funds to be able to pay quality labor to smart adults."

The women want to conquer the Pacific Northwest next. Stephanie is also targeting more North Bay and East Bay cities, along with Lake Tahoe and Los Angeles. They are seeking more funding from friends and family to chase that ambition.

In addition to local establishments, the bars are available at the company's website, www.youcantfakeawesome.com, and www.fitapproach.com. The women plan to begin selling their signature red hoodies on their website soon, too.

Passionate company

Lynda Benson, who runs a Sonoma blog called Fitness Mom Wine Country, has had the Melnik sisters sponsor her events and giveaways. She is encouraging them to expand their sales to her area.

"Awesome Bars stand out for me because I love that the company is a self-start and is about their true passion," she said.

That passion comes through in the advice Leah has for those considering becoming entrepreneurs.